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Forget surgery—these tips could help you improve your eyesight naturally

Some of us are lucky enough to be born with near-perfect vision. These individuals will go through life never needing to wear glasses. Others aren’t so lucky and must shell out hundreds, if not thousands of dollars every year for contact lenses, reading glasses, bifocals, designer frames—you name it.

When you’re tired of poking yourself in the eye while trying to put in your contacts while half-asleep, consider these five tips that may help you improve your eyesight naturally—or, at the very least, help protect your peepers from deteriorating any further.

Eye exercises

Since exercising your muscles makes you stronger, it makes sense that exercising your eyes will help them remain in tip-top shape. When your eyes begin to feel fatigued, perform these exercises to help wake them up and regain your focus:

Rolling: Look up, and then circle your eyes slowly 10 times in each direction.

Focusing: Grab a pen, hold it at arm’s length and focus on it. Slowly bring it towards you until it’s about six inches away, then slowly move it back to arm’s length. Repeat this 10 times.

Warming: Create heat by rubbing your palms together, then place them over your eyes for five seconds. Do this three times to help replenish your eyesight.

Nutrition

In much the same way that eating healthy foods will help you maintain a healthy weight, eating a balanced and nutritious diet can help preserve your eyesight for longer. Eyes need certain nutrients in order to work at their peak performance. Garlic, onions, shallots, and capers all contain sulfur, lecithin, and cysteine—all of which help your eyes to function properly. Other nutrients needed for healthy eyes include vitamins A, C, and E; minerals like copper and zinc; antioxidants like beta-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin; and DHA fatty acids found in coldwater fish. Eat a good variety of fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, healthy fats, and whole grains for optimal eye health.

Supplements

Sometimes, it’s just not practical to get your fill of fruits and veggies throughout the day. And even if you do eat a relatively healthy diet, supplements can help provide you with those vitamins and minerals you might be lacking. For good eyesight, make sure you’re getting enough vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotene, zinc, selenium, calcium, folic acid, lutein, thiamin, zeaxanthin, omega-3 fatty acids, alpha lipoic acid, and N-acetyl cysteine. Most health food stores should carry a vitamin containing all of these nutrients and more.

Massage

A massage feels incredible on tired, sore muscles—and it feels just as good on tired, sore eyes. Starting at your temples, massage slowly in small circles 20 times in each direction. Moving onto the mid-point of your eyebrows and then underneath your eyes on either side of the bridge of your nose, repeat the motion. Not only will this feel good after a particularly long day, but it’ll help sharpen your eyesight enough to get you through the day until bedtime.

Sleep and rest

Just like food and drink, our bodies can’t function properly without enough sleep. After a series of all-nighters, your eyesight is bound to suffer. Make sleeping seven to eight hours per night a priority. On those days where that’s just not going to happen, take a 20-minute catnap when you can. If you feel your eyes starting to strain during the workday, take a break to help your eyes recover. A good rule of thumb is 10 minutes of eye rest for every 50 minutes spent in front of a computer screen or reading.

Obtaining Free Flu Shots

There are a number of locations to obtain a complimentary influenza shot:

1. Your Employer

Many employers provide cost-free flu shots to all workers this year. They may also offer totally free influenza shots to relatives as well. Consult your company to see if they will be offering cost-free influenza shots this year. If they are not, provide this feedback– the economic impact.of the influenza in the United StateS is $87.1 billion annually, in lost work and other indirect expenses like healthcare.

2. Your Physician with your Health Insurance

Indirectly, via your company or if you have a public health.insurance exchange, your medical insurance can pay for your influenza shot with no cost, because of Affordable Care Act insurance coverage rules, when provided by an in-network supplier.

3. Your County Health Department

Several regional wellness departments offer cost-free flu shots to kids as well as the elderly. Progressively they are offering this solution to everyone. The only downside is the potential for long waiting lines. Have a look at your county or cities web site for more details.

Other Cheap Flu Shot Locations

If you don’t have health insurance, or an employer or county health.department that offers cost-free flu shots, there are a variety of stores providing rather affordable flu shots for the 2015-2016 flu season. If you do.have medical insurance that covers influenza shots, it might even be more.convenient compared to going to your doctor.

Costco Flu Shots: Costs $14.99. The least expensive on this listing if you don’t have insurance.

CVS Flu shots: Costs$31.99. You get a 20% off one-time promo valid on non-sale. goods and non-pharmacy acquisitions as much as $50(optimum value $10 ). Typical co-pay applies.

“You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep Spring from coming” Pablo Neruda

Spring brings a lot of trouble for hundreds of thousands of people affected by allergies, in particular allergic rhinitis. Allergicrhinitisis a very common disorder, caused by inflammation of the nasal mucosa due to an allergic reaction to pollen or to other outdoor and indoor allergens such as house dust mites, molds or animal dander. Patients most often describe it as a stuffy nose, although some would rather describe it as runny nose or excessive sneezing. In addition to nasal symptoms, inhalation of airborne allergens may give rise to conjunctival symptoms like itchy eyes, tearing, etc.

Allergic rhinitis heavily impairs the quality of life of people affected including sleep deprivation, impaired concentration, and decreased learning capacity. Further more untreated allergic rhinitis is a risk factor for asthma. Investigations estimate a loss of around 100 billion Euros due to uncontrolled allergic rhinitis affecting productivity.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Allergen immunotherapy (AIT) could be the key that frees you from your symptoms. AIT significantly improves in symptoms, medication use and quality of life, and is cost-effective compared to symptomatic therapy alone. The two most commonly prescribed AIT routes are subcutaneous and sublingual.

A detailed diagnosis of IgE-mediated (allergic) disease is mandatory before AIT can be prescribed. It is good clinical practice to be diagnosed and supervised by an allergy specialist who can carefully instruct patients about the scope and modality of the treatment.

The third wave of the Beware of Allergy campaign conducted by the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology in cooperation with European National Allergy societies, patients organisations and community pharmacists (The Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union-PGEU) aims to:

Highlight the increasing incidence and burden of allergic rhinitis

Call on patients, healthcare professionals and pharmacists to seek advice on the correct management of allergic diseases

Peers for Progress, a program of the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation, and the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) announced the release of two essential guides to enable accelerated implementation and scale-up of peer support programs in order to meet global healthcare challenges.

The Peers for Progress Program Development Guide, is a comprehensive practical handbook representing the culmination of six years of intensive study and reporting by community health leaders across the globe. The guide serves as resource for potential and existing peer support program managers, providing step-by-step instruction on program planning, monitoring and evaluation, quality improvement, and sustainability. Healthcare providers and community leaders seeking to implement peer support programs will also find supporting documentation for their efforts in the form of a recently completed economic analysis report, which demonstrates the cost-effectiveness of implementing these programs and suggests an innovative payment model for peer support.

“We are very excited to introduce the Peers for Progress Program Development Guide, which offers a menu of good practices and how-to resources for the healthcare community,” said Edwin B. Fisher, global director of Peers for Progress. “Existing program directors will benefit from the guidance on how to create and maintain the necessary frameworks for successful programs, and new managers will find the tools they need to demonstrate the real-world application of peer support programs in a variety of community settings.”

The second resource, Mi Salud es Primero: A Model for Implementing a Promotores de Salud Program for Diabetes Self-Management in a Primary Care Setting, outlines an ideal design and implementation of a peer support program that could meet the needs of Spanish-speaking communities, which are often underserved and disproportionately affected by chronic illnesses such as diabetes. The guide draws on research from the Mi Salud es Primero/My Health Comes First program, targeted to urban, low-income primarily Latino adults with type 2 diabetes in Chicago, Illinois, which integrated promotores de salud or community health workers in a primary care setting.

“NCLR finds that working with promotores de salud is highly effective in providing Latinos with the peer support they need to learn to eat healthier foods, exercise in a way that fits into their daily routines, and better follow their doctors’ instructions. These community health workers truly understand the challenges facing Latino patients and are able to share information in a way that is culturally and linguistically appropriate,” said A. Manuela McDonough, Associate Director, Institute for Hispanic Health, NCLR.

Together with legacy data from the global studies, the Peers for Progress and NCLR guides strongly illustrate the crucial role peer support programming plays in closing gaps in healthcare.

Copies of the guides may also be ordered by contacting info@peersforprogress.org or news@nclr.org

With a firm footing in the health and well-being segment, Elder Pharmaceuticals Limited (NSE: ELDERPHARM) has expanded its Solo range of OTC products with the launch of Solo range of inhalers for nasal congestion. The Solo basket comprises of Solo Rub, a pain balm, Solo Cough Drops and Solo lozenges for throat soothening. With an eye on the rural markets, the company is also launching these products in smaller sizes and has earmarked a budget of Rs. 25 crore for promotional activities.

Elder foresees an 8-10% annual growth in the nasal decongestion market and is banking on substantial growth from category B and C towns. The market is presently valued at Rs. 800 crore with Vicks from P&G dominating with more than 50% market share. Market for inhalation generic drugs is quite promising for India due to climate change and rapidly aging demographics where 22% of population is above 55 years of age. Although the market leaders are everywhere, there is still a large untapped market in India and Elder is hoping to garner a 7% share of the nasal decongestant market by FY2018.

Alok Saxena, Managing Director, Elder Pharmaceuticals Limited, says, “Over-the-counter inhalers are the first level treatment for nasal congestion and doctors/specialists are consulted only if the condition worsens. Rising cost of raw materials, competitive market conditions and over dependency on the urban markets had affected the sales of the company’s OTC products in the recent years. With focus on price, product mix and penetration, Elder is set to regain its prime position in the OTC sector.”

The market for cough and cold care solutions too witnessed a growth of 10% during 2013-14 due to increasingly erratic weather, whereby the temperature kept switching from hot and humid to cold and rainy, further increasing seasonal health problems such as cough, cold and allergies. It is for this reason that the company has also introduced Solo lozenges in polypack for better visibility and customer use. An ayurvedic cough syrup, which gives more than 12 hours of relief and has no side effects, is also ready for launch in April 2015.

India’s Fast Moving Health Goods (FMHG) sector has shown higher growth of 18% in rural areas as compared to 11% in urban areas. Although urban areas have high spending propensity, there has been a rise in disposable incomes levels in the rural economy and consequently in demand for FMHG products.

Saxena adds, “In view of the highly competitive nature of the industries we operate in, we plan to focus on branding, packaging upgrades, wider distribution and innovation to make our brands successful. The company has also lined up marketing strategies to offer combination products for an attractive price in order to lure the rural consumers to try out it new launches.”

Chances are that your child will develop at least one mysterious bump, welt or break-out in his or her childhood. While common, rashes may not be always benign. It’s a good idea to ask your child’s pediatrician to look at a rash and determine whether treatment (or just observation) is necessary.

Usually, nothing is better than seeing the rash up close and in person; however, I can get clues over the phone to help me determine the possible cause and significance of a rash. Below, I’ve listed 6 questions I ask about a rash, which I hope can help you be better prepared when you call the doctor’s office.

1. Is there a fever?

Fevers that accompany rashes may indicate an infection. The most common causes of rashes associated with fevers are viral infections. Viral illnesses such as Hand-Foot-Mouth disease or Fifth disease have a characteristic appearance and usually do not require any specific treatment (besides fever reducers as needed). Bacterial infections, such as cellulitis or strep throat, are less common but generally require some form of treatment, such as antibiotics.

2. Is the rash only on one area or in multiple places?

Localized rashes are more consistent with direct irritants like diaper rash or contact dermatitis from poison ivy. A head-to-toe rash is more likely to occur from a systemic exposure like a virus or an allergic reaction to foods or oral medications.

3. Is it itchy, painful or “just there”?

For rashes without symptoms like itchiness or pain, my recommendation is usually to leave them alone. I discourage parents from putting lotions or other topical forms of treatment on them.

An asymptomatic, all-over rash can follow a viral infection. For example, roseola is a red rash that shows up after a fever is gone. While generalized and impressive-looking, roseola is not contagious or a cause of concern once the rash appears.

An example of a symptomatic, itchy rash is eczema or atopic dermatitis. Eczema looks like red, blotchy, scaly patches on the cheeks, neck, crook of the elbows and back of the knees.

An example of a local, “just-there” rash is ringworm. This rash presents as round lesions with a raised, red border and a lighter, scaly center.

4. If it’s a red rash, is it “blanchable”?

“Blanchable” means “turns white when pressing on it.” If you push on a red rash and the skin turns lighter momentarily, then it’s blanchable. This feature distinguishes a rash from a bruise because a bruise will not blanch. Non-blanchable rashes can be associated with bleeding underneath the skin either from injury or a clotting deficiency and can be more serious.

5. Are the eyes, mouth or joints also involved?

The rash might be a clue to an issue beyond the skin, such as an inflammatory or allergic condition. I always ask if the white part of the eyes is red or if the inside of the mouth has swelling, blisters or bumps.

6. Is the rash new or has it been there for a while?

If it started a few days ago, it’s acute. Chronic rashes have been there or have come and gone over some time frame. Chronic rashes may have evolved – by scratching, treatment or other means. In that case, I would want to know how it looked in the very beginning and how its appearance has changed over time.

A fragile medical safety net stretches across America, made up of thousands of clinics offering free and low-cost health care to those with no other place to turn.

Run by a wide range of nonprofit groups, religious organizations, communities and educational institutions, they serve a vital role — and will continue to do so even as more Americans get access to health insurance.

But finding a clinic, and figuring out what it offers, can pose a challenge.

Enter a group of University of Michigan Medical School students and their colleagues from health and information technology schools at U-M.

Together, they’ve launched findcare.org, a nonprofit website that aims to make it easy to find free or sliding-scale clinics near you, learn who they assist, what services they offer, understand where and when they’re open, and how to contact them.

The site’s database already includes information on over 500 clinics in Michigan and approximately 2,000 in the Midwest; the Michigan clinics are already available on the website. The Findcare team aims to expand the website into a nationwide resource with information provided by clinics themselves, and by other groups of community-minded health professions students.

With funding from the U-M Medical School and the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, the students built findcare.org and added clinic information to its database relying primarily on volunteer labor. They used an interactive Google Maps API interface to make searching and navigation easier.

More than two dozen students helped pull together the information on the site from a wide range of sources, and build an interface that works well on mobile devices and desktop computers. You might call them community service entrepreneurs.

Together, they created a system for adding and updating clinic information that relies on a form of crowdsourcing, though with added measures to ensure the validity of information. Individuals who submit valid information can become “trusted users” over time. This will make findcare.org a dynamic and essentially self-updating site, unlike previous sites with similar aims.

Although the Affordable Care Act has allowed millions of people to get health insurance coverage, millions more still lack it — including those living in states that have chosen not to accept federal dollars to expand eligibility for Medicaid.

In all, 13.4 percent of those living in the U.S. are uninsured, according to the latest poll by the Gallup organization. Federal projections show that as many as 30 million people living in the U.S. could still be uninsured in the year 2023.

That reality makes findcare.org an important resource, says one of the U-M leaders who helped fund the project.

“Our medical students who took the initiative on this project, and their partners from other U-M schools and at other institutions, should take real pride in achieving something that will serve the community in an entirely new way,” says Rajesh Mangrulkar, M.D., Associate Dean for medical student education at the U-M Medical School. “I hope their colleagues at universities across the country will join this movement and make the directory as robust as it can be.”

Michael Gao, who will graduate this month from the U-M Medical School, and Elizabeth Haworth-Hoeppner, a rising fourth-year medical student, lead the organization along with first-year medical students Michael Huarng and Sanjana Malviya. Findcare now includes students from the U-M Medical School, the schools of Information, Public Health, Social Work, the colleges of Engineering and Pharmacy, and the Ross Business School.

They received support and guidance from Sanjay Saint, M.D., MPH, the George Dock Collegiate Professor of Internal Medicine at U-M and associate chief of medicine at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System. Joel Howell, M.D., the Victor Vaughn Collegiate Professor of the History of Mdicine, also contributed.

The idea grew out of the frustration experienced by U-M medical students who several years ago sought to create what has now become the U-M Student-Run Free Clinic, with help from faculty physicians. Just finding information on free clinics in the Ann Arbor area was difficult.

The idea of building a website aimed at people without insurance, or experiencing financial hardship, may seem strange, Gao acknowledges.

But studies have shown that 70 percent of low-income people access the Internet for health information, and that inexpensive smartphones have leveled the playing field for Internet access among people of different backgrounds.

The students will continue to add clinics in the Midwest and hope that others will add more. As many as 15,000 free and sliding scale clinics, and clinics that accept uninsured patients, may exist across the nation.

IBM, Coriell Life Sciences and CareKinesis Deliver Personalized Medicine to the Elderly Via the Cloud With SoftLayer, Healthcare Providers Can Better Analyze and Store Genetic Data in the Cloud to Improve Care IBM Corporation logo. (PRNewsFoto/IBM Corporation) LAS VEGAS, April 29, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced a collaboration with Coriell Life Sciences, a provider of genetic analysis at point of care, and CareKinesis, Inc., a Medication Risk Mitigation® pharmacy services firm, to bring personalized medicine to the elderly based on analyzing and storing genetic data in a secure cloud environment. Using SoftLayer, an IBM Company, Coriell Life Sciences, in collaboration with IBM and CareKinesis, is launching an initiative with Program for All Inclusive Care of the Elderly (PACE) clients, which cares for more than 5,000 seniors, helping to enhance medication safety by better understanding how high-risk individuals respond to specific medications and drug treatments. Currently, about three out of four older Americans have multiple chronic health conditions. Many of these patients are being treated with drugs that may work at odds with each other – the medication being used for one condition can actually make another condition worse. By 2030, one in five Americans will be over age 65. As a result, increasing healthcare costs and the healthcare system are just beginning to feel the burden. “The goal of personalized medicine is to individualize healthcare by using knowledge of patients’ health history, behaviors, environments, and, most recently, individual genetic makeup when making clinical decisions,” explained CareKinesis CEO Calvin H. Knowlton, BSPharm, MDiv, PhD. “This initiative will allow physicians to collaborate with CareKinesis pharmacists to access a patient’s genetic data to better understand what drug treatments are likely to be responded to, thus reducing medication-related problems and hospital visits, while decreasing the individual’s overall healthcare costs.” Overcoming the Big Data Challenge Working with genetic data presents massive challenges for both data storage and privacy protection. A whole human genome produces more than three billion points of data for a single individual. To address these issues, Coriell Life Sciences turned to a cloud storage service based on SoftLayer. In collaboration with IBM, Coriell Life Sciences built a scalable, cloud-based solution that safely and cost-effectively stores data in Coriell Life Sciences’ GeneVault. The GeneVault stores and manages millions of genetic data points. This data is then interpreted and shared with physicians through CareKinesis who layer additional medication management decision factors into a holistic tool for doctors within PACE organizations. Under the strict privacy controls of the interconnected CareKinesis and Coriell Life Sciences systems, physicians, healthcare providers and medical experts can access a patient’s genomic interpretation via any web connected device. For example, a cardiologist may consider prescribing a popular blood-thinning drug for an elderly man, but may be concerned about the potential for an adverse reaction. The PACE Team decides to conduct a test to assess if the participant will respond to the medication being considered. The test is run by swabbing the inside of the patient’s cheek to collect a tiny amount of genetic material, which goes to Coriell Life Sciences for testing. Results are analyzed and interpreted for their impact on drug response. The resulting report is then transmitted to the doctor giving guidance on whether the patient can safely use the drug. CareKinesis supports the process by making pharmacotherapy recommendations based on these results. The data can be used at any time it is needed in the future for pharmacotherapy prescribing decisions. “This approach of treating conditions ‘one at a time’ even if the treatments might conflict with one another has been common in medicine, in part because little information exists to guide practitioners in how to consider this problem, weigh alternatives and identify different options. Better understanding of an individual’s genome can lead to a more effective dosage regimen,” said Scott Megill, CEO of Coriell Life Sciences. “Now with the collaboration with IBM and CareKinesis, personalized medicine is presenting many new options to this growing demographic. The combination of cloud and mobile is making a healthcare ecosystem possible with the patient center stage, delivering health services more efficiently.” For more information on Coriell Life Sciences, visit http://www.coriell.com/ For more information on CareKinesis, visit http://www.carekinesis.com/ For more information on IBM Healthcare, visit www.ibm.com/industries/healthcare/ For more information about cloud offerings from IBM, visit http://www.ibm.com/cloud. For more information on IBM Impact, visit www.ibm.com/press/ibmimpact2014. For media inquiries, contact: Lizette Kodama IBM Media Relations 1 (646) 675-0750 lkodama@us.ibm.com

Accelerated Rehabilitation Centers—the largest physical therapist owned and managed practice in the U.S—is kicking off the New Year by offering free pain assessment and injury screens from licensed professionals trained in treating musculoskeletal conditions. All Accelerated locations throughout Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin and Arizona are providing complimentary pain and injury screens.

The 30-minute assessment is performed by a highly trained physical or occupational therapist. It encompasses a hands-on, musculoskeletal assessment of the patient’s injury or pain and includes tests for muscle strength, joint stability and flexibility. During the exam, these licensed professionals will also test for range of motion and mobility.

Depending on the results, Accelerated therapists will recommend next steps, which may include an appointment with a board-certified physician who best meets the needs of the patient. Additionally, Accelerated may offer the patient advice on strengthening exercises and non-surgical options for treatment.

“Instead of seeking a solution, people with pain often postpone treatment,” explains Sarah Jensen, Chief Clinical Officer for Accelerated Rehabilitation Centers. “Ignoring an injury or pain for too long can cause more harm. By offering patients a free screening, we can detect problems and send patients to appropriate professionals for proper treatment.”

To schedule a free injury screen, call 877-97-REHAB or log on to www.acceleratedrehab.com. Patients will receive an appointment within 48 hours at their nearest Accelerated location.

*Free injury screenings are not available for federally funded payers

About Accelerated Rehabilitation Centers, Ltd.

Chicago-based Accelerated Rehabilitation Centers is a premier provider of a wide array of comprehensive patient services and specialized physical therapy programs. Since 1989, Accelerated has grown to over 300 outpatient locations in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Wisconsin, Ohio and Arizona, becoming the top choice for many professional athletes, large employers, and busy professionals. For more information, call 877-97-REHAB, or visit www.acceleratedrehab.com.

Urban Health Plan (UHP) will celebrate the official opening of its most recent health center, the Simpson Pavilion on Friday, April 25, 2014 at 9:00AM. The new, state-of-the-art, 54,000-square-foot facility will enable UHP to care for an additional 20,000 South Bronx residents. It will house UHP’s adult medicine, walk-in pediatrics, behavioral health and OB/GYN departments, as well as a fitness center for patients and a demonstration kitchen designed by UHP partner Canyon Ranch Institute and the chefs of the world-renowned Canyon Ranch Health Resort.

Included in this major expansion, the new demonstration kitchen is part of a long-standing partnership between the nonprofit Canyon Ranch Institute (CRI), which brings life-enhancing programs to underserved communities, and Urban Health Plan, a network of community hospitals in the Bronx and Queens. The Simpson Pavilion demonstration kitchen will be the pilot site of the CRI Healthy Table program. A UHP nutritionist was trained to lead the program through a culinary internship with the Canyon Ranch culinary department led by Corporate Chef Scott Uehlein in Tucson, Arizona.

Urban Health Plan and Canyon Ranch Institute experts co-developed the CRI Healthy Table program to pilot in the Bronx, which was also the first pilot site for the award-winning CRI Life Enhancement Program. The goal of CRI Healthy Table is to create a healthier community through food and cooking education delivered in an evidence-based, integrative, high-quality, culturally proficient, and health literate manner through programs that are accessible to all community members.

“We have been a partner with Canyon Ranch Institute since 2007. Together, we have taken Canyon Ranch’s Life Enhancement Program, which is offered at the world’s premier health and wellness resort in Tucson, Arizona, and created our own version for use with our patients in the Bronx,” said Paloma Hernandez, M.P.H., M.S., president and CEO of Urban Health Plan. “As a result of this partnership, we have seen improvements in our patients’ health, including weight loss, less depression, and decreases in HG A1C levels,” she added.

“The Canyon Ranch Institute Life Enhancement Program has many components, and nutrition is one of them. Our new demonstration kitchen and CRI Healthy Table program allow us to provide hands-on cooking classes to enable patients and community residents to learn how to cook healthy meals. This is particularly important in the Bronx, a borough that has once again been identified in the County Health Rankings as one of the unhealthiest counties in New York State,” said Elvira Rella, R.D., director of Nutrition at Urban Health Plan.

Through the CRI Healthy Table program, community residents will have access to lunch-and-learn sessions, cooking demonstrations, and hands-on cooking classes that feature delicious, affordable, and nutritious meals and recipes. The program also includes a visit to a local farmer’s market and grocery store tours to help guide participants in making healthy food choices, including understanding nutrition and ingredient labels.

“Urban Health Plan is a model for health care delivery of the future,” said Richard H. Carmona, M.D., M.P.H., FACS, 17th Surgeon General of the United States and president of Canyon Ranch Institute. “Chronic diseases, such as diabetes, asthma, and heart disease, are the most costly health problems facing our nation. Together with Canyon Ranch Institute, Urban Health Plan is providing integrative health and wellness programs and services to the community where I was raised, and I am so grateful for the significant health improvements that all residents have access to and can appreciate.”

“CRI Healthy Table combines nutrition science with the opportunity for people to personally experience shopping for, cooking, and eating healthy foods in a welcoming, beautiful setting within their own community,” said Jennifer Cabe, M.A., executive director and board member of Canyon Ranch Institute. “We are proud to work in partnership with Urban Health Plan to demonstrate that the best practices of health and wellness pioneered at Canyon Ranch are replicable and sustainable and continue to make a positive difference for people in low-income communities.”

The Simpson Pavilion is Urban Health Plan’s ninth clinic site. It was financed through a grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the New York City Council, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., State Senator Ruben Diaz and new market tax credits (NMTC). The combined $37.8 million NMTC transaction was structured with funds from Enterprise, a national leader in community development and one of the largest allocates of NMTC, the Nonprofit Finance Fund and Stonehenge Community Development. Goldman Sachs provided NMTC equity to the project as well as debt financing.

WHAT:

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony of Urban Health Plan’s Simpson Pavilion

WHEN:

Friday, April 25, 2014 at 9:00AM

WHERE:

1054 Simpson Street, Bronx, NY 10459

WHO:

Staff and patients of Urban Health Plan, elected officials, community residents, community organizations

About Urban Health Plan: Urban Health Plan is a network of federally qualified community health centers based in the South Bronx and Queens. Its mission is to improve the health status of underserved communities. In 2013, UHP served more than 60,000 patients through more than 300,000 patient visits at eight clinic sites, eight school-based clinics and four part-time sites. It has served the Hunts Point, Mott Haven, Morrisania and other surrounding communities since 1974. UHP is Joint Commission accredited and has been awarded Level 3 recognition as a Physician Practice Connections-Patient Centered Medical Home (PPC-PCMH) from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) since 2009. Level 3 is the highest recognition awarded by the NCQA. It has been named one of the top 25 not-for-profits in the country by Hispanic Business Magazine for the past four years.

About Canyon Ranch Institute®: Canyon Ranch Institute catalyzes the possibility of optimal health for all people by translating the best practices of Canyon Ranch and our partners to help educate, inspire, and empower every person to prevent disease and embrace a life of wellness. Canyon Ranch Institute is a 501(c)3 non-profit public charity. More information is available at www.canyonranchinstitute.org. On Twitter @CRIhealthyworld